With multiple players claiming the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback had been blackballed by the league for sparking protests during the playing of the national anthem, a subject that dominated the past two NFL seasons and drew criticism from President Trump, The Washington Post tracked the statistical performance of each team’s top passer to see how they measured up to Kaepernick’s 2016 averages.

Over the course of the season,
10 quarterbacks were worse
than Kaepernick,
7 were about the same
(plus or minus 0.35 ANY/A) and
15 were better.

To be fair, two of those 10, DeShone Kizer and Mitchell Trubisky, were rookies, with their teams building for the future. Two others, however – Brett Hundley with the Packers and Jacoby Brissett with the Colts – were thrust into starting roles due to injury to star starting quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Andrew Luck. Would those teams have been better off on the field had they turned to Kaepernick? It will remain the source of debate, but the numbers suggest the former 49er would have represented an upgrade.

ANY/A is a tweak on yards per attempt that gives QBs credit for throwing touchdowns and penalizes them for interceptions and sacks.

Note that adjusted net yards per attempt only measures passing. Quarterbacks who run a lot – such as Kaepernick, Cam Newton, and Russell Wilson – were not given credit for those contributions. Here’s the full QB ranking, from worst to best:

Player

Team

Total seasons

2017 Passing Stats

ANY/A

32.

DeShone Kizer

ClevelandCLE

Rookie

53.6% comp, 11 TD, 22 INT

3.69

31.

Brett Hundley

Green BayGB

2

60.8% comp, 9 TD, 12 INT

3.71

30.

Trevor Siemian

DenverDEN

3

59.0% comp, 12 TD, 14 INT

4.38

29.

Joe Flacco

BaltimoreBAL

10

64.1% comp, 18 TD, 13 INT

4.71

28.

Jay Cutler

MiamiMIA

12

62.0% comp, 19 TD, 14 INT

5.04

27.

Mitch Trubisky

ChicagoCHI

Rookie

59.4% comp, 7 TD, 7 INT

5.05

26.

Eli Manning

N.Y. GiantsNYG

14

61.6% comp, 19 TD, 13 INT

5.11

25.

Jacoby Brissett

IndianapolisIND

2

58.8% comp, 13 TD, 7 INT

5.26

24.

Cam Newton

CarolinaCAR

7

59.1% comp, 22 TD, 16 INT

5.28

23.

Marcus Mariota

TennesseeTEN

3

62.0% comp, 13 TD, 15 INT

5.51

22.

Andy Dalton

CincinnatiCIN

7

59.9% comp, 25 TD, 12 INT

5.65

21.

Tyrod Taylor

BuffaloBUF

7

62.6% comp, 14 TD, 4 INT

5.67

20.

Dak Prescott

DallasDAL

2

62.9% comp, 22 TD, 13 INT

5.74

19.

Carson Palmer

ArizonaARI

14

61.4% comp, 9 TD, 7 INT

5.86

Kaepernick (2016)

San FranciscoSF

6

59.2% comp, 16 TD, 4 INT

5.92

18.

Josh McCown

N.Y. JetsNYJ

15

67.3% comp, 18 TD, 9 INT

6.00

17.

Derek Carr

OaklandOAK

4

62.7% comp, 22 TD, 13 INT

6.07

16.

Blake Bortles

JacksonvilleJAX

4

60.2% comp, 21 TD, 13 INT

6.21

15.

Kirk Cousins

WashingtonWSH

6

64.3% comp, 27 TD, 13 INT

6.38

14.

Russell Wilson

SeattleSEA

6

61.3% comp, 34 TD, 11 INT

6.45

13.

Jameis Winston

Tampa BayTB

3

63.8% comp, 19 TD, 11 INT

6.70

12.

Matt Ryan

AtlantaATL

10

64.7% comp, 20 TD, 12 INT

6.87

11.

Ben Roethlisberger

PittsburghPIT

14

64.2% comp, 28 TD, 14 INT

6.95

10.

Matthew Stafford

DetroitDET

9

65.7% comp, 29 TD, 10 INT

7.01

9.

Case Keenum

MinnesotaMIN

6

67.6% comp, 22 TD, 7 INT

7.03

8.

Deshaun Watson

HoustonHOU

Rookie

61.8% comp, 19 TD, 8 INT

7.19

7.

Carson Wentz

PhiladelphiaPHI

2

60.2% comp, 33 TD, 7 INT

7.43

6.

Tom Brady

New EnglandNE

18

66.3% comp, 32 TD, 8 INT

7.56

5.

Philip Rivers

L.A. ChargersLAC

14

62.6% comp, 28 TD, 10 INT

7.60

4.

Jimmy Garoppolo

San FranciscoSF

4

67.4% comp, 7 TD, 5 INT

7.62

3.

Alex Smith

Kansas CityKC

12

67.5% comp, 26 TD, 5 INT

7.65

2.

Drew Brees

New OrleansNO

17

72.0% comp, 23 TD, 8 INT

7.71

1.

Jared Goff

L.A. RamsLAR

2

62.1% comp, 28 TD, 7 INT

7.72

About this story

All data from Pro Football Reference. Quarterback photos are from the NFL via Pro Football Reference, with the exception of Colin Kaepernick (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP).